Envelope Accordion Album

Written and Created by PaperCraftCentral Susan

An Accordion Album is fun to make. All you really need are some envelopes, cardstock, cardboard and some creating time!

Imagine making one of these cute little books and filling it with tags with pictures of your children and grandchildren, your sweetie or your pets. What a special gift for Mother's Day or another special occasion.

"Letters are expectation packaged in an envelope.
~Shana Alexander, American journalist, editor, host and teacher"

One day when I had some time to craft, I gave in to the strongest inspiration to make a little accordion album to house all the lovely contact cards people from a forum I belong to have been giving me.

I cast around in my mind for an idea until someone asked me how they could use up some envelopes in a creative way, and suddenly the two ideas sprang together in my mind, and some hours later here is the result.

Mind you, I am not the first one to make an album like this! It took a little research to figure out how to construct it, but I used my own imagination as well and customised the decorations and sizes of the pages to suit my own purposes (you can, too!) 

I actually used 12 envelopes to make this wallet-sized book.

TIP: You can use the number of envelopes that suit YOU. Choose to use six or eighteen or whatever suits your project

You Will Also Need:

• Twelve envelopes, all the same size, that you can seal shut
• Ribbon, Velcro dot fastener, other embellishments as desired
• Cardstock and Designer Series Paper in your chosen colours and designs
• Slightly heavier (than cardstock) cardboard to make the album covers. I used the cardboard in the back of a pack of designer series paper for this project.

Money-saving tips

• Make some original paper flowers to decorate your own keeper once it is made.
  
• Consider if you could recycle some envelopes you have been sent in the mail. Some of the writing and stamps could show, but you may like that look.
• If you do not have enough envelopes of the right size, you can make your own with an envelope punch board or manually and customise them completely!

How to Make an Envelope Accordion Album:

• First, choose envelopes to suit what you want to store in them then seal all the envelopes up.
• Now measure what you want to keep in the envelopes and cut off one end of each envelope to allow your items to fit comfortably inside and still be able to be pulled out without sticking.
• NOTE: Make sure the envelopes are all the same lengthand width

I show you how I placed my double sided tape on the envelopes below and how they stick together at the bottom and in the middle.

• Adhere the first envelope pocket to the back of your cover, using plenty of strong double sided tape or tear 'n tape
• Adhere the last envelope to the front of the cover, allowing room for expansion when you add things to the pockets.

Stampin' Up! Supplies List for Decorating